Meet Ahmed: he started high school at 7; graduated from university at 15; now, he’s learning to code.

Do you remember where you were at the age of 13? If we had to take a wild guess, you were probably a year or two into your secondary school education.

At 13, you were a preteen who hadn’t fully discovered your identity, likes, dislikes, and life purpose. At 13, you probably hadn’t given any thought to what you wanted to study in university or college — while this is the story of most 13-year-old students in Nigerian schools, we are shining a spotlight on a Clane user who had a completely different coming-of-age story.

Ahmed is a 15-year-old budding software developer who just recently graduated with a BSc in Physics. He was 13 years old when he was accepted to study Physics at a state university in Nigeria.

If you haven’t done the math already, Ahmed started high school at the age of 7/8. Sounds unbelievable, right? He kicked off his secondary school education at a grammar school in Ota, Ogun State. One day, while Ahmed was in class, his father showed up, pulled him out of school and took him to write the National Common Entrance Examination (conducted by the National Examinations Council); although he was not fully prepared to write the examinations, he ended up scoring high enough marks to gain admission into the university of his choice.

“I didn’t know where my father was taking me until we arrived at the examination hall. I scored a C in Physics and an A in Further Mathematics.”

After he passed the NECO exams, his father moved him into one of the self-contained apartments located behind their family’s building. At this point, Ahmed is 12 years old, living alone and preparing to start his first year at university.

“I studied Physics at school; it was a challenging course with a lot of mathematics and calculations. I always sat in the front row of the class and I didn’t make any friends while I was in University.”

In August of 2019, Ahmed graduates with a 4.0 CGPA (second class-upper) and a BSc in Physics. A month after graduation, he was invited to join Clane’s software development team as an intern.

“Although I studied Physics, I have a passion for Software Development. I find the internship challenging and I spend most of my time learning how to code.”

On the 29th of November 2019, Ahmed will celebrate his 16th birthday with his family in Egbeda. Although Ahmed is a book smart young man with a bright future, he does not spend all of his time studying and sitting behind his laptop.

“I play football, every day, from 8 PM — 10 PM at a stadium in Ojuelegba; I like playing in front of a big crowd — when I see a lot of people, I am inspired to push myself on the field and enjoy the game even more.”

We are glad we are playing a part in Ahmed’s professional life and we cannot wait to watch him achieve great feats in the future.